Minister directs release of detained new mothers at Korle Bu

The Health Minister, Madam Sherry Ayittey has directed management of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital to discharge all new mothers being held at the facility for their inability to pay their hospital bills.

The ministry says women who have already delivered must be allowed to go home to make way for other pregnant women to be admitted.

This, according to the ministry, is one of the means to curb maternal mortality in the country.

Public Relations Officer with the Health Ministry, Tony Goodman told Joy News, this gesture is only to new mothers at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital.

The directive was given by the Minister of Health on Friday and it takes immediate effect, he told Joy News’ Beatrice Adu.

He however admitted that the action is not sustainable but would save lives in the mean time.

“It is not sustainable because you cannot be paying for every mother who goes to the hospital but the situation as it stands now when you go to Korle Bu, it is better to take this action than to allow a lot of women to lose their lives.”

Asked about how much it was going to cost the ministry, Tony Goodman replied: “We don’t know the number [of mothers] involved, we don’t care about the number; we only want women who have delivered and are to pay their bills to be released so that the bill would be submitted to the ministry.”

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry says it will begin working with the National Health Insurance Authority to curb the challenge of women delivering at hospitals and not having money to pay.